Faculty and Staff Features for June 2018

Pretzer-Aboff has been selected as a fellow in the Health Sciences section of The Gerontological Society of America. The status of fellow — the highest class of membership within the society — is an acknowledgment of outstanding and continuing work in gerontology. She will be inducted as one of 89 new fellows in November at GSA’s 2018 Annual Scientific Meeting in Boston.

Pretzer-Aboff joined the School of Nursing in August 2017. Formerly an associate professor at the University of Delaware School of Nursing, she is the co-founder and former director of the Parkinson’s Clinic at the University of Delaware Nurse Managed Primary Care Center. Her research focuses on the development of interventions that improve function and optimize the independence of people who have Parkinson’s disease.

GSA is the nation’s oldest and largest interdisciplinary organization devoted to research, education and practice in the field of aging.

Mark H. Crosthwaite, associate professor and program director of the baccalaureate nuclear medicine technology program, Department of Radiation Sciences, College of Health Professions

Mark H. Crosthwaite

Crosthwaite has been named the 2018-19 president-elect of the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging Technologist Section.

Crosthwaite has four decades of experience as a nuclear medicine technologist and has worked at VCU since 2005. Previously, he taught at Jefferson Community College and the University of Louisville. In Louisville, he also served as director of diagnostic imaging at Kindred Hospital and as a nuclear medicine technologist with the Norton Healthcare System, Jewish Hospital and University of Louisville Hospital.

Long active in the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging Technologist Section, Crosthwaite is currently in his second term as president of the Mid-Eastern Chapter and previously served as president of the Southeastern and Pittsburgh Chapters. He has held several positions on the Nuclear Medicine Technology Certification Board, including chair, treasurer and secretary. In addition, he assisted the Radiation Safety Branch in Kentucky with development of nuclear medicine technologist state licensure.

“As president-elect of the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging Technologist Section, my goal is to strengthen support of nuclear medicine technologists, ensuring they have the resources to advance their careers and provide the highest quality of care to patients,” Crosthwaite said. “There is always room to enhance communications, educational offerings, advocacy and research support. In the rapidly evolving field of nuclear medicine, I also firmly believe in sharing knowledge and working together with related societies and the international community to bring patients state-of-the-art imaging and precision therapies.”